Civil War Naval Vessels

by Zach Carnes


Some types of navel vessels:

- Ships of the line
- Blockade runner
- Gunboats
- Ironclads


Ships of the Line

These ships were like modern battleships. They had many guns on the ships. Usually they carry around 70 guns but one had as many as 120 guns. They fought and captured ships.
One famous Confederate Ship of the line was the CSS Sumter. It weighed a massive 437 tons and was powered by a steam engine. Also, it captured over 15 ships in less than a year.

Blockade Runner

A blockade is the act of cutting of supplies to and from a city or fort. Blockade runners break through those blockades to supply the city or fort with food and supplies. Blockade running was a very dangerous job to do, but certain ships were very successful.
The Advance was very fast and made over 20 successful trips of delivering supplies before it was captured.

Gunboats

The boats were somewhat like the Ships of the Line because they have a lot of guns and capture ships, but they were blockade ships. The USS Flag was a gunboat and carried many guns and cannons. It was a steamship and it captured many blockade runners in its career of 4 years before it was sold.


Ironclads

These ships had iron or steel plate for protection and ran on a steam engine. They were developed for the reason of defense. The traditional wooden ships were vulnerable to explosive shells and were destroyed much more quickly than iron plated ships. The focus wasn’t all on defense. They had a small number of powerful guns.

ironclad.gif
USS St. Louis ironclad

Cannons

There were many types of cannons made and used on navel ships during the civil war. One that was commonly used was the Dahlgren's smoothbore. Both the Union and the Confederates used them. They had a 108 inch barrel and were a 9 caliber. During the war, there were 1185 made and often said to look like a soda bottle.


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cannon.png
Dalhgren's Smoothbore



References
http://americancivilwar.com/tcwn/civil_war/Navy_Ships/blockade_runner_Advance.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_runner
http://americancivilwar.com/tcwn/civil_war/Navy_Ships/CSS_Sumter.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunboat

http://www.wideopenwest.com/~jenkins/ironclads/ironguns.htm

http://www.wideopenwest.com/~jenkins/ironclads/ironguns.htm n
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironclad_warship
http://www.civilwarhome.com/ironclad.htm